Thoughts on Concept Albums
 

What are your opinions on concept albums vs. standard/conventional albums. Do you feel that a unifying idea tends to hurt/help the quality of the actual songs across an album, or not at all?

What I can't understand is why they're always double albums. Surely it'd be easier under those constraints to make them a single album. Then there's the one's that their creators think need some weird and wonderful ending which ends up ruining it. Yes. You Roger Waters. I hate The trial on The Wall.
I think my fav. is the who sell out. Apart from the songs being great it's got those adverts and the whole concept has been done fairly succinctly and with humour.

I don't care if it's a concept or not. If it's good it's good and I don't think whether it's a concept or not has any effect on that.

If it's a really good concept album you won't notice that it is a concept album.

Concept albums are cool but they're not inherently better than albums with non-connected songs. I mean sure Animals and Quadrophenia and In The Court of the Crimson King (an Observation by King Crimson) are some of my favorite albums of all time but for each Hospice there's a Countdown to Ecstasy marching along with it. Albums all have their merits, and sure, being a concept album can work for or against it but I'm not going to ramble on about how all good albums are concept albums.

EAT BALLS

Among my favourites would be

CAMEL - Stationary Traveller
TANGERINE DREAM - Phaedra
YES - Tales From Topographic Oceans